Columnist: Prop. 30's failure will cost schools dearly

Q. You wrote about your support of Proposition 30 and yet The Orange County Register did a whole commentary recommending a "no" vote. Please outline the differences, real not polite, in a yes or a no vote for people trying to keep these straight. What will a yes and a no vote on 30 mean?

A. 'Tis the season for politics. Proposition 30 is what is standing between cuts to the state budget totaling $6 billion – a majority of which will likely hit California's K-12 and higher education systems. We have already had massive cuts to education, yet there are people who think this statement is not true. It is true. Anyone with kids in school right now can tell you there have been cuts after cuts after cuts for the past five years and more. If we face $6 billion more, I am not sure what schools will look like next year. Am I worried? Sure.

A yes vote would mean the state sales tax would rise a quarter of a percentage point for four years, from Jan. 1, 2013 to the end of 2016, and the personal income tax on earnings over $250,000 would rise for seven years, from 2012 through 2018. The added revenues would go toward school funding and balancing the budget.

The income tax increase breaks down to raising taxes on these earners by 1 percentage point for those making over $250,000, by 2 percentage points for those making over $300,000, and by 3 percentage points for those making over $500,000. Right now, California's highest personal income tax rate is 9.3 percent for income earned above $48,029 by single filers.

I know the word "tax" brings out the equivalent of football uniforms with fans staunchly on one side or another. This, however, is not a game. I hope it passes, but if it doesn't the cuts to education will likely come in the form of cutting up to 15 more days of school off of our students' year, making our children come to school less than most every other state in our nation.

Q. My child is 8 years old and in second grade. In just two months of a new school, he keeps getting to be suspended to get to come home. Now, he is being aggressive to other kids in order to come home because he prefers to be home. It is getting worse now with violence he hasn't done before. I have read you in the paper with three older children other than him in schools. My question is how many times can a school legally suspend a child?

A. There is no limit to suspensions, but I am not sure you are asking the right questions. Other placements for your child are a possibility if the health and safety of your child and the other children around him are in question. I do not know your child, but suspensions at the age and grade you are describing along with this behavior is a red flag that your child is waving in order to get help. Please know that if, at such a young age, he is trying this desperately to do anything violent or aggressive in order to get out of his educational setting, he needs serious help and support.

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